God empirically testable?

[gotsteel]

It is my contention that there is no reasonable definition of the word God that would yield a hypothetical entity or phenomenon whose existence or occurence could be investigated by empirical testing.  Do you disagree?  If so, then I ask you to propose such a definition.  

Well in terms of phenomenon there is the whole prayer answering thing which can and has been empirically tested.

[Inevitable Droid]

Well in terms of phenomenon there is the whole prayer answering thing which can and has been empirically tested.

Even if, in a pretend universe, science demonstrated that prayer had a statistically significant tendency to precede the occurrence of the specific event prayed for, that would only demonstrate the efficacy of prayer, not why it was efficacious, as there would be at least one other explanation, namely, the hitherto underestimated power of the human brain.

[Sophus]

I would say that monotheistic gods like the Abrahamic one is empirically testable but deistic ones are not. If Yahweh were real the Bible's "science" should hold up and prayers should have an effect. They don't.

[elliebean]

I would say that monotheistic gods like the Abrahamic one is empirically testable but deistic ones are not. If Yahweh were real the Bible's "science" should hold up and prayers should have an effect. They don't.

Unless he were real and they got his biography wrong.

But I wonder, what does it mean to say something is real, if it is not empirically testable or demonstrable?

[LegendarySandwich]

I would say that monotheistic gods like the Abrahamic one is empirically testable but deistic ones are not. If Yahweh were real the Bible's "science" should hold up and prayers should have an effect. They don't.

Unless he were real and they got his biography wrong.

But I wonder, what does it mean to say something is real, if it is not empirically testable or demonstrable?

If the people who wrote the Bible got the God of the Bible wrong, then that God isn't the God of the Bible.

[gotsteel]

Well in terms of phenomenon there is the whole prayer answering thing which can and has been empirically tested.

Even if, in a pretend universe, science demonstrated that prayer had a statistically significant tendency to precede the occurrence of the specific event prayed for, that would only demonstrate the efficacy of prayer, not why it was efficacious, as there would be at least one other explanation, namely, the hitherto underestimated power of the human brain.

Wouldn't prayers to a particular deity being answered while prayers to the other deities went unanswered be evidence against a mental explanation such as the placebo effect?

Furthermore the lack of prayers producing such results is a real blow to the veracity of the bible.

[Inevitable Droid]

Wouldn't prayers to a particular deity being answered while prayers to the other deities went unanswered be evidence against a mental explanation such as the placebo effect?

It would certainly prompt important questions.  Very good notion.  I had never thought of this.

Let's say the evidence indicated that Thor seemed to answer prayers while Jesus and Allah seemed not to.  We would have to start ruling out alternative explanations; for example, could there be something unique about Thor's worshippers, or their lives, or the particular things they prayed for, or the particular way they prayed?  Until we ruled all of these out, we wouldn't find ourselves having to seriously consider Thor's existence.  But I will grant you this: the mere fact that Thor had risen to the top of the heap in this way would make him, and his worshippers, and their religion a thousand times more interesting to me than any other deity, any other worshippers, or any other religion.

Furthermore the lack of prayers producing such results is a real blow to the veracity of the bible.

Agreed.  That's a separate question, of course.  The bible doesn't have to be true for God to exist.  Certainly God has to exist for the bible to be true.

[DJAkuma]

In an experiment over 1000 trials I prayed to god and then made the same prayer to my cat (I wanted a spaceship and a threesome with a couple of unnamed celebrities). In all 1000 trials the results were the same (no prayer answered), so I can only conclude that my cat and god are one and the same. I will soon conduct a new set of trials after I stockpile enough cans of tuna, I will publish the results for peer review soon.